Ship-Girls Shipping Anthology
by Sheo Darren
Summary: Anthology of all the Kantai Collection vignettes and one-shot short stories that I have written on SpaceBattles. (Formerly SUPAA KAGA. Revised.)
1. SUPAA KAGA

"Look! Up in the sky!"

"It's a bird!"

"It's a Reppu!"

"It's-"

.

x=x=x

 **SUPAA KAGA!**

a parody of many things, mostly Kantai Collection

.

 **Disclaimer:** Kantai Collection is owned by Kadokawa and DMM. Please support the official release.

x=x=x

.

 **Kaga Tosa was meant to be the second member of the Tosa class battleships, a SUPAA NAGATO a.k.a. BEEEG BEEEG SEBEN.**

 **However, her peaceful people of Hachi-Hachi Kantai, the Eight-Eight Fleet, was mugged by the evil Washington Naval Treaty!**

"Ridin' over your clique~ Like the Delaware, son," rapped Washington Naval Treaty. "I'll get my face on the dollar Before this shit's done!"

" _Tasukette,_ " groaned Hachi-Hachi Kantai-chan, who lay beneath her attacker's boots. " _Onegai…_ "

x-x-x

 **But enough of the History Channel.**

 **Sensing the coming scrapping and scuttling of hulls determined to be excess or illegal, Kaga's older sister Tosa Tosa did the unthinkable: She, a proud dreadnought of the IJN battle line, entrusted the young Kaga to an upstart newcomer who showed great promise.**

"Hoshou-san," begged the kowtowed Tosa. "Please take good care of Kaga-chan for me!"

"I'll treat her as my own daughter," the first purpose-built aircraft carrier promised the desperate battleship.

"Thank you…" Tosa ruffled her incomplete sister's hair. "I guess this is farewell, Kaga-chan..."

"Nooo! Tosa-oneechan! Don't go!"

"You must become strong, Kaga. Stronger than me. Stronger than Hoshou-san."

"Oneechan! Tosa-oneechan!"

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Loli!Kaga threw her arms around the ten fuel drums, twenty ammo boxes, forty steel barrels, and three bars of bauxite that had once been her older sister. She lifted her tearful face up to the sky and uttered a skyward scream.

"Nooo!"

x-x-x

"Hold on just a minute!" protested the Author's secretary ship, Murakumo. "Tosa was not scrapped. Her fate was serving as target practice for the IJN to test her armor scheme, and at the end of it she was scuttled by opening her Kingston valves and flooding her compartments. I would know because I was still operational around that time, though they decommissioned and scuttled me later that year."

 **Look, Murakumo, I'm trying to be funny by making 2-4-11 scrapping jokes… which I realized isn't that funny anymore since I have come to like Naka thanks to Kant-O-Celle Quest… and I can't make fun of the Fusou class anymore because kct likes them... I'm running out of patsies -_-**

"Furthermore, Tosa and Kaga are sister ships. So they should be the same age."

 **I went with Tosa being older because I was parodying Superman's origin story. And why are you nitpicking, anyway?**

"You need to do your research fully and properly! Remember how you believed 'Enterprise' and 'Enterprize' were pronounced differently and made it one of the major issues of HMS _Enterprise_? Wasn't it embarrassing to be proven wrong and have to correct your story post?"

 **Not really… I was really thankful for the discussion and correction...  
**  
"Then there was the time you thought sabot rounds left the interiors of tanks relatively undamaged because you believed the splinters generated by the penetrating round could only kill people and not ignite ammunition or fuel."  
 **  
Hey! I was young and stupid back then!**

"And then there was the time you mistook **Terrace** for **Barricade**..."  
 **  
Fine, fine, I'll rewrite the entire thing! Sheesh, you're so pushy… but I still like you precisely because of that...**

"Whaaat? Sheo… you…" The red-faced Murakumo brandished her two 18-inch torpedo tubes. "I'll make you eat these Fiume torpedoes!"

x-x-x

 **Anyway. Let's redo Tosa's last moments.**

A battle line of IJN warships faced the young Tosa. Biplane bombers and torpedo planes buzzed overhead.

This was not practice. This is for real. For keeps.

Neither was it a battle. For battles are fought between at least two forces, however balanced or lopsided the odds.

No. This was an execution. A bullet to the back of the head of Old Yeller. The State exercising its legal right of murder.

"Hiiieee," groaned Hiei, who looked so depressed that the Author decided not to bully her just this once.

"This… this is not all right," Haruna sniffled.

"Just this once," Kirishima whispered to herself. "Could not my calculations have been wrong?"

"She's too young," Nagato sobbed. "My cousin is far too young and cute to die this way..."

"Forgive your weak cousins, Tosa-chan," Mutsu apologized to the young girl whom they were supposed to strike down.

"I do forgive you," Tosa replied calmly. She gave Hoshou a relieved smile. "Hoshou-san. Please take care of Kaga-chan for me."

"I'll treat her as my own daughter." This Housho promised as she drew an arrow from her quiver, being part of the firing squad tapped for this duty.

"Thank you…" Tosa aimed a sad smile at her sister. "I guess this is farewell, Kaga..."

"Nooo! Tosa-oneechan! Don't do this!"

"You must become strong, Kaga. Stronger than me. Stronger than Hoshou-san."

"Oneechan! Tosa-oneechan!"

"Ready. Aim."

Battlecruiser Kongou, still one of the most powerful warships of the IJN and definitely its most senior frontline capital ship, issued the orders with a preternatural calm and a crisp tone that belied her immense shame.

Following this cruel but necessary sacrifice, the so-called 'Indestructible' shall spend time under the sun to darken her pale skin, dye her white hair brown, wear contact lenses to hide her crimson eyes, ditch her flowing royal purple gown for a brief version of the traditional shrine maiden outfit, and forever renounce British aloofness while embracing BURNING LOVE to the fullest as a show of her repentance.

(Her love of tea, however, remained constant. She just changed the color from green to black.)

But for now she kept her upper lip stiff for Emperor and country. For now she remained the flagship of this Oriental Fleet.

The assembled battleships elevated their naval rifles. Hoshou drew back her bowstring and held her torpedo plane arrow in readiness to let fly in the name of the Empire.

"Sink," Kongou ordered. "Sink!"

Tosa filled her lungs for one last cry. Not of defiance, but of courage and loyalty to her navy and people and god-emperor, whom she loved with all of her heart and soul.

"TENNO HEIKA BANZAI!" Tosa yelled as the incoming deluge of ordnance blotted out the sun. 'May His Majesty the Emperor live ten thousand years!'

Loli!Kaga screamed.

x-x-x

 **There. Historically and technically accurate! What do you think, Murakumo?**

Murakumo had fallen on her knees. Her face was now as pale as her hair. She clutched her shivering self.

"What have I done?" she realized. "I've given him an opening to write something dark and depressing... I am become Death, destroyer of worlds..."

 **Oh. Oh, dear. I accidentally broke her. Um, sorry, Murakumo...**

"Honored predecessor!"

In charged another Murakumo. Turns out that the Murakumo reduced to a sobbing wreck is the British-built 1898 torpedo boat destroyer, not her _Fubuki_ class successor (nearly five times the displacement but the same ratio of tsun to dere), though they did resemble each other.

"Sheo… you…" Murakumo (1928) brought up one of her triple-tube Type 93 torpedo launcher mounts in a threatening manner. I'll make you eat these Oxygen Torpedoes!"

 **...worth it.**

x-x-x

 **As promised, Hoshou raised little Kaga. The venerable carrier taught the young ex-battleship everything she knew.**

"Give Type Thirteen!" Loli!Kaga ordered in a royal tone fit for an imperial princess.

"Here you go." And Hoshou kindly surrendered her Smith-designed Mitsubishi B1M torpedo bomber.

Now the carrier eyed Hoshou's Mitsubishi 1MF biplane fighter with gimlet eyes full of green envy. "Give Type Ten!"

"Of course, dear," Hoshou placated her.

x-x-x

"Why is Hoshou-san not correcting Loli!Kaga's bratty behavior?" asked Murakumo (1928). "Yes, she is a gentle woman, but she is also a mother who must discipline a child..."

 **Well, Murakumobucky-**

"Murakumo... buki?"

 **I need to distinguish between you and your 'honored predecessor'. But reading out your year of launch takes up a lot of space. So I'm citing you as the Bucky class Murakumo, hence Murakumobucky.**

"Bucky?"

 **As in Buki. You know. The Winter Destroyer.**

"Huuuh?"

(In the background, one might hear a certain Bucky complaining "Stop making fun of my name!")

"Argh! You make my head hurt!" Murakumo's mechanical ears shudder. "Just get to the point!"

 **Okay. The reason for this is-**

"No!" warned Murakumo (1898). "Don't give him an opening, honored successor!"

x-x-x

"Stop acting like my mother," Loli!Kaga hissed while batting away the gentle hands trying to tie her hair into a ponytail.

Hoshou sighed. This child was so stubborn. But she didn't really mind. This was a duty she welcomed, a cross she bore willingly and happily.

"I promised Tosa-san that I would take care of you," she replied.

"Don't use my sister's name! You killed her!"

Hoshou flinched as if she had been slapped.

"Murderer!" Loli!Kaga glared 16-inch shells at the older carrier. "I'll never forgive you for killing Tosa-oneechan!" she snarled. "I wish you die! All of you! Just go and die!"

Sixteen years later, Hoshou received a telegram from High Command. The man who delivered it was professional but bleak. He gave her space to read in silent privacy- and, afterwards, caught her as she capsized and lent her his shoulder to cry upon.

.

 _In Yokosuka was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Hoshou weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are no more._

no parent should have to bury their child

 **BAD END**

x-x-x

Two silver-haired girls hugged each other for scant comfort. They quivered, their golden eyes brimming with tears.

"Why, Sheo?" sniffled 1898 Murakumo. "Why did you write that?"

"It's my fault," moaned 1928 Murakumo. "I gave him an excuse to write that…"

 **Mmm… massed clouds, indeed...**

"Honored predecessors!"

In came yet another Murakumo, this one the _Minegumo_ class of the Cold War era JMSDF.

 **Woah… deja vu…**

"Sheo! You…" Murakumo (1969) brandished her Mk 16 Pepper Box ASROC launcher. "I'll make you eat these Mk 46 torpedoes!"

 **Don't care anymore. With you here, all the Murakumo are mine, mwahaha!**

x-x-x

 **Back to the story.**

[Give me… the Zero… give me… the Reppu…]

Supaa Kaga coldly replied with a full deck of spotted dive bombers. "Die, monster," she said as her aircraft bombed Northern Princess into oblivion. "You do not belong in this world."

[One day... In a more fun sea... One day…]

.

 **MVP:** SUPAA KAGA

 **SFX:** KAGA~N!

.

"Nuuuooo!" Nagamon fell on her knees and held her hands up to the heavens in a homage to Willem Dafoe's famous death scene in Platoon. "My Hoppou-chan!"

"Damn it, Supaa Kaga," Ryuujo groaned. "You didn't have to blow her up! I carry spare Zero and Reppu for just this occasion!"

Supaa Kaga glared at her weak-willed so-called allies. They were too soft. They were not HARD SHIP-GIRLS who could make the HARD DECISIONS in this HARD LIFE. They could not understand that to conceive a desert called peace, one had to declare war on Poseidon Himself.

"Don't worry, everyone!" assured the newly-acquired Akashi, who turned out to be the very lucky drop for this node. "I can fix her!"

[You had better do that,] bleakly warned Seaport Princess, the oversize claws on her gauntlets twitching.

Akashi held up two massive jumper cables. "Clear!"

Supaa Kaga ignored the successful operation to revive Hoppou. She looked up to the sky, where she imagined she could see a face smiling down at here.

'Tosa-oneechan… I have become strong… stronger than our cousins Nagato and Mutsu… stronger than even the Yamato and Musashi...'

x-x-x

 **Yeah, she kind of went Bronze Age of Comic Books Anti-Hero/AN HERO there...**

 **Supaa Kaga can swim at 28 knots, launch 72 planes with 18 to spare, is super hot (literally and figuratively), and excels at sinking unsuspecting American battleships at anchor.**

[.. / ... .- - . / -.- - ..- -..- / ... ... . - / -.. .- .-. .-. . -. .-.-.-] Kant-O-Celle Quest!Arizona signaled in Morse code.

"F*cking overheated b*tch," growled Oklahoma, West Virginia, and California.

The only one who wasn't angry was Utah.

"I was mentioned!" Tears of joy ran down the ex-battleship's face. "I have a cameo! I wasn't forgotten by a KanColle writer! I can sink and rust happily now!"

Utah's fellow Pearl Harbor victims let her be. Poor girl could use some attention.

x-x-x

 **Her weakness?**

[Why...I...The world...The sea…]

 _What? Airfield Princess is Evolving? Airfield Princess Evolved into… Midway Princess!_

"Sasuga, Devs," hissed Supaa Kaga.

[Explode... and sink!] The resurrected Installation Type let out a wicked laugh. [No one bullies Hoppou... and get away with it...]

x-x-x

 **But never fear! Supaa Kaga does not fight alone! For she has allies! Real allies! Seriously! I'm not fibbing!**

 **With the power of Iron Bottom Stomach! Supaa Akagi!**

"Omnomnomnom mogu mogu!"

"That's… that's not a takoyaki…"

[Halp, Midway, halp!] yelped the Abyssalcat Fighter being nommed by the gluttonous fiend.

 **With the power of BEWBS! SUPAA SOURYUU!**

"Sheo, you perv~"

BOING!

 **With the power of Oedipus Complex! SUPAA HIRYUU!**

"Tamon-maru will get mad!"

"Desu!" agreed said fairy.

 **With the power of Tsundere!**

"Get out!" exclaimed the Mental Model of the Fleet of Fog heavy cruiser out of fury for always being called _Tsundere_ class.

 **Not you, Takao.**

"Oh. Uh... Sorry..."

"Did someone call me?" asked the other heavy cruiser that bore the name of 'High Hero'.

BOING BOING!

"Ugh," sighed the Mental Model. "Her fuel tanks are way bigger than mine…"

 **I meant ZUIKAKU.**

"All planes, prepare for immediate takeoff! Objective, the Author of this stupid story! Go get him!"

 **With the power of being Planefag's ship-waifu and a prime competitor in the Admiral Settle Bowl! SHOUKAKU!**

"No! Zuikaku! Please stop attacking the Author!"

"Don't stop me, Shoukaku-nee! Sheo Darren shipped me with the Silent Hunter 4 avatar of a SpaceBattler who sank me in a play-through!" The twin-tailed younger crane blushed. "I'm not doing this because I l-l-like Triggerhappy Jaberwocky or anything!"

 **GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE~**

"DO YOU WANT TO GET BOMBED?!"

 **Together, they form the super heroine team KIDOU BUTAI, the RIOT FORCE that will defend the Land of the Rising Sun against all enemies! YAMATO DAMASHII, GAIJIN!**

x-x-x

"You translated 'Kidou Butai' wrong," Murakumo (1969) sighed. "It's Mobile Force, not Riot Force."

 **...I was misled by Nanoha fan subbers. Blood will be spilled for this deception.**

"Idiot," all three Murakumos muttered.

x-x-x

 **Can Super Kaga and the KIDOU BUTAI save the day against the dreaded GREY GHOST and rescue the sweet maiden Yamato from the clutches of that evil AmeriKaijuu?**

"I, Yamato, do not require saving!"

Thus spake Yamato as she placed herself between the KIDOU BUTAI and the cornered but extremely dangerous (for there's one thing you never, ever put in a trap, and that is) USS _Enterprise_.

"I, Yamato, am here where I truly belong!"

And the absolutely glowing cherry blossom maiden took the startled Enterprise's hand into her own and intertwined their fingers together as if daring anyone and everyone to pry them apart.

 **SUPER DREADNOUGHT CLASS LEWDS RIGHT THERE. CALL THE LEWDS POLICE.**

"What," blurted out Enterprise as she ended up shipped with Yamato despite this not being The Greatest Generation.

The KIDOU BUTAI was shocked to the core of their conservative Japanese maiden hearts.

"Oh, no! Yamato's been brainwashed by the Americans!" Supaa Hiryuu exclaimed on behalf of her teammats.

Zuikaku rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure the Hotel joined the Americans on her own volition," she pointed out. "I mean, unlike the IJN and JMSDF, the USN does have the resources to deploy her on a regular basis."

Supaa Kaga ignored the sole voice of reason in the KIDOU BUTAI. Her sister is DEAD, and now she's an aircraft carrier, waah, waah. Her HARD LIFE made her into a HARD SHIP-GIRL who can make HARD CHOICES and do HARD SHIP-THINGS.

"There's no helping it," she determined. "We'll have to **bomb** Yamato until she comes back to her senses."

She was in the process of nocking a Suisei arrow to her bow when Zuikaku planted a soft karate chop on the back of her brown-haired head.

"Knock it off, Kaga-sempai," grumbled the younger crane carrier. "If you damage Hotel-chan, she'll hog the repair docks forever and make the Admiral cry over the loss of all those resources."

Supaa Kaga let out a small sound of surprise. She went still before slowly toppling forward with all the solemnity of a cherry tree felled by the 16" naval rifles of USS Washington.

"What," the stunned Zuikaku quoted Enterprise as she stared at the unexpected result of her handiwork. She disliked Supaa Kaga, but she didn't want that to happen to her rival!

"What have you done, Zuikaku?" exclaimed the stunned Supaa Hiryuu. "Why did you betray Supaa Kaga?"

"Oh, no!" Supaa Souryuu gasped. "It cannot be! The Grey Ghost has mind-controlled Zuikaku as well!"

"What? No!" Zuikaku argued. "I just tapped Kaga-sempai on the head!"

Supaa Kaga hauled herself from the floor. The older carrier looked bedraggled.

"So, Zuikaku, you were a traitor all along."

The former battleship coughed out copious amounts of bright red liquid.

"I knew CarDiv 5 couldn't be trusted," she hissed through stained lips.

"You are making even less sense than usual, Kaga-sempai!" Zuikaku snapped. "And why is blood coming from your mouth? That wasn't even a love tap! Internal injuries do not work that way! If anything, the blood coming from your mouth should be darker or even black in color due to coming from injured internal organs!"

Zuikaku then noticed that Supaa Akagi was hastily hiding something behind her. "Wait, Akagi-sempai… what is that?"

"...Nothing," badly lied the former battlecruiser as she avoided eye contact with her suspicious twin-tailed junior.

"Is that a bottle of cranberry juice?!" Zuikaku gawked. "Did you let Kaga-sempai drink that so she can act all dramatic?"

"N-n-no! It's my emergency stash for when I get hungry!"

Supaa Kaga looked away. But not to hide a blush over scoring an indirect kiss with her partner.

Hidden out of sight and so envious of Kaga that she didn't notice her name being messed up, Bucky growled. Yandestroyer time...

Zuikaku was about ready to snap at her ridiculous comrades. She was cut off, however, by the unexpected occasion of Shoukaku embracing her from behind.

"I'm so happy that my imouto fell in love with a good person," her delighted older sister whispered into the nape of her neck. "You're truly a lucky girl, Zuikaku..."

"Shoukaku-nee! We are not like that!" protested the red-faced Zuikaku, who shivered as her sister's warm breath washed over her skin. "And wait, who are you referring to? Triggerhappy Jaberwocky or Kaga-sempai?"

"Yes."

"That mathematician's answer doesn't make any sense!"

"WOW!" came the loud observation from a certain English-born returnee who'd just arrived on the scene. "Such BURNING LOVE! KONGOU-RATULATIONS!"

"You are not helping, you glorified battlecruiser!" Zuikaku shrilled.

"...I somehow know this is South Dakota's fault somehow," Enterprise muttered into the palm of her hand.

(She was still holding on to Yamato's hand, though. Lewd.)

x=x=x

 **OMAKE**

"Ridin' over your clique~ Like the Delaware, son," rapped Washington Naval Treaty. "I'll get my face on the dollar Before this shit's done!"

"Tasukette," groaned Hachi-Hachi Kantai-chan, who lay beneath her attacker's boots. "Onegai…"

"Now, now, Five-Power, old boy," appeased the strapping Anglo-Japanese Alliance, who used Washington's other name. "I'm sure we can talk peacefully about this like chaps of gentle breeding…"

"Screw you, Brit! Or I'll dump your tea into the sea again!" Washington threatened.

The mouthpiece of Anglo-Japanese's pipe snapped between his gnashed teeth. "Now, see here, you damnyankee," he growled, his mustachio bristling.

"Anglo-Japanese Alliance-kun!" moaned Hachi-Hachi Kantai. "Why are you siding with Washington Naval Treaty and not helping me? We're friends, right? I helped you during World War One!"

"Because," interjected a newcomer. "Anglo-Japanese Alliance secretly desires Washington Naval Treaty."

Washington Naval Treaty stopped his victory jig atop of Hachi-Hachi Kantai. "What?" he gaped at the male intruder who resembles him and Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

"Who are you?" Hachi-Hachi Kantai coughed.

"I am the manly love child of Washington Naval Treaty and Anglo-Japanese Alliance who has come from the future to ensure my existence," sneered the now-revealed London Naval Treaty. "Resistance is futile!"

"Bollocks," Anglo-Japanese Alliance sighed as his infidelity and Anglosexuality were trumpeted to the whole world.

Hachi-Hachi Kantai's confused gaze shifted from Anglo-Japanese to Washington and back. Her face turned red and she began twiddling her fingers.

"I don't mind _yaoi_ ," she admitted with a wistful look and hopeful tone.

Washington Naval Treaty recoiled from the fallen Japanese naval program as if burnt by napalm. But doing so meant he bumped into Anglo-Japanese Alliance, who blushed while also holding him to support the unsteady American treaty.

"Are you alright there, chap?"

"GAAAY!" Washington Naval Treaty yelled while pushing Anglo-Japanese Alliance away from hi. "GAAAY!"

The commotion attracted the attention of their minder.

"Damn it, Washington! Consider yourself grounded!" League of Nations ordered. "Go to your room and think on your errors!"

"F-f-fine! I was going to do that anyway! I'll never come out! I'll just binge-buy using my credit lines!" Washington threatened. "Screw the rules, I have credit!"

And that was how the Great Depression came about. Godoka damn it, America.


	2. Reunion

**7 April 201X**  
 _Sasebo Naval Base_  
Sasebo, Nagasaki

A serious-faced young woman, long black hair tied up in a ponytail and dressed in a red-and-white serafuku, gave a crisp salute to a wizened man who was old enough to be her grandfather.

"Light Cruiser Yahagi, reporting for duty. Let's work at it together to the end, Ikeda-sama!" urged the reborn warship.

"Yahagi..."

Tears leaked from the rheumy eyes of the old man and streamed down the wrinkles of his cheeks. Never in his long life did he expect the eight million Kami of his homeland to grant him his oldest, fondest and long-forgotten wish.

Here at last was _Yahagi_ , the third ship of the _Agano_ class light cruisers. Launched during the latter half of the Second World War, when the tides of the naval war have turned against Japan, she participated in most of the major sea battles. Mariana Straits, Leyte Gulf, and Bonomisaki...

A good ship, she fought it out to the very bitter end, an end she met as an escort of _Yamato_ for the suicidal Operation Ten-Go.

Takekuni Ikeda was her navigation officer for that last ride into infamy. The explosion of an American bomb hurled him from the bridge of _Yahagi_. Injured and treading water, the horrified officer could only watch as his slaughtered ship soon sank beneath the oily waves of the sea south of Kyushuu, the first of a funeral procession of warships that accompanied the ill-fated _Yamato_ to the bottom of the sea.

More than any other event, that loss taught him that war is unreasonable, unjust, and outrageous. Even a person of good conduct would be killed in the war field.

But now Yahagi had come back to the world of the living. She is here to fight for Japan once more. She and her comrades have responded to the call to arms against a true evil, the evil in the hearts of men made manifest.

She has returned to **him**.

The old man could not help but throw his arms around Yahagi for a shaking yet tight embrace.

"Wha- Ikeda-sama? You.. What's wrong?"

The startled ship-girl peered at his ancient face in search of clues for the reason behind his distress.

"Your face," she murmured. "You have a rather serious expression..."

She knew. She worried for him. She continued to care for him, just as she had taken good care of him so many years back.

"You are a good girl, Yahagi," he swore to his steel ship reborn as a sweet schoolgirl. "A very good girl."

"R-r-right... t-t-thanks..."

And Takekuni Ikeda, formerly of the IJN, a civilian for many years afterwards made a honorary Admiral of the JMSDF for this very special moment, embarked upon a silent vow to the kanmusu in his shaking arms.

'This time... This time, Yahagi, I'll be the one who protects you...'

 _._

 _"Right... If there can be another life for me after this one, I guess becoming something other than a warship wouldn't be such a bad idea..."_

 _._

x=x=x

 **REUNION**

x=x=x

Sheo's Notes: This was inspired by the real life event where former Yahagi crewman Takekuni Ikeda was introduced to the character design of the _kanmusu_ of Yahagi. He called her "a good girl".

The date, 7 April, is the day in 1945 when the historical Yahagi was sunk.


	3. Captain Haddock & The Tsun Destroyers

It is one of those days. One too many resource expedition runs that take too long and take a toll on the ship-girls. And when one's expeditionary destroyers happen to be 'DesDiv T', the so-called Tsundere Destroyer Division...

"So annoying!"

"Idiot!"

"Rude child!"

"Annoyance!"

"Shitty Admiral!"

This is just a sampling from Michishio, Kasumi, Murakumo, Hatsukaze, and Akebono railing and wailing at their commander for slights perceived and true.

 **WARNING! TSUNDERE LEVELS CRITICAL!**

Any other lesser soul would have been crushed to the soul and bone by the incessant volleys of abusive words and demeaning glares fired at him.

Their Admiral's craggy face enters Sea State Nine, which is to say Archibald Haddock is Phenomenally incensed.

"Billions of bilious blue blistering boiled and barbecued barnacles!"

The quintet of destroyer girls tumble backwards in surprise as the wind is taken out of their sails. But the thundercloud-faced captain is just warming up when it comes to chewing them out.

"What fallow freshwater frogman favored such foul filibusters from you fancily-fitted fillies? Mind your megalomaniac manners and miserable mouths, you misguided missiles!"

His black beard bristling and his eyes kindled by extreme exasperation, Haddock proceeded to cuss out the ship-girls out without resorting to an actual offensive curse word. Miserable minutes of marvelously mortifying mastication of morale by the master himself ensue.

The only reason his astringent lecture tapers off is not because Haddock runs out of alternative expletives, but because he eventually notices a strange happenstance.

Petulant defiance has been thoroughly exorcised from the Tsundere Division. But now the ship-girls are possessed by a different emotion as evidenced by their cerise cheeks, heart-shaped eyes, hasty pants, small swallowing sounds, and fidgeting motions.

"Hot," they softly chorus together. "The Admiral is so **hot** when he scolds us..."

 **ACHIEVEMENT: DESTROYER DIVISION M (MASO) GET!**

"...Four-Power Pact," Haddock mutters while wishing for a bottle of Scotch for the first time in many years.

.

x=x=x

 **CAPTAIN HADDOCK & THE TSUNDERE DESTROYERS**

x=x=x

.

Nearby, the jealous Ikazuchi pouts. The Admiral should be relying her sisters and herself, the Thunder Division, and not the Tsundere Division!

"Ṇ̺A͕̮̬̙̦̙N͙̦̰̪O̥̙͔̗̥̤D̗̹̖̭͢E̻͈̣̥̯̮̕A̬̹̻̦͈̘T͓̰̣͈̙̱̮H̛̞̜̠," chirps her twin Plasma-chan.

 **(BAD) END?**

x-x-x

 **Sheo's Notes:** Inspired by eagle109's vignette about Captain Haddock of  Tintin serving as a _kanmusu_ Admiral. Also the first and only time I shipped my favorite tsundere destroyer Murakumo with someone who wasn't me or Anonymous Rabbit.


	4. Indestructible Generations

**201X**

 _Yokosuka Naval Base_

Yokosuka, Japan

.

Kongou enters the terribly furnished office of her superior officer at a measured pace. "Did you call for me, Sir?" she asks the two-meter-tall, eighty kilogram, boyish-looking person with the slimy blue-black hair occupying the chair.

"Yes, I did, Indestructible," says Shitty Admiral, who can barely suppress his gleeful anticipation at finally removing a constant thorn in his side.

Kongou sighs. Her terrible leader is scheming anew. But she's always been able to defeat his evil plots and protect the other ship-girls.

'What is he up to now?'

"I'm sorry?" she asks. "Could you please repeat that, Admiral?"

"You were built in Britain, correct?"

"Yes, I was laid down in 1911 at Barrow-in-Furness in Britain by Vickers Shipbuilding Company, and finished fitting out in Portsmouth during 1913," Kongou confirms.

She wonders what prompted 'Admiral Asshole' (as 'Maya-Maya' calls him) to investigate their backgrounds. He's never cared about the histories of his ship-girls before.

'Unless...'

"Do you have a passport or a visa?" asks Shitty Admiral.

"No, I have never bothered to apply for either. I was too busy fighting the Abyssals? Why do you ask?"

"You see, Indestructible-"

Again he calls her by that name. And she finds it irksome on a fundamental level.

True, 'Indestructible' is the rough English translation of her name 金剛. But 'Kongou' can also be translated to 'Diamond'. And if one is to be pedantic, it ultimately means 'Stability', the philosophical bedrock of Buddhist invincibility as symbolized by the mighty mountain in the Kansai Region of Japan that has gifted its name upon many a warship.

"You were born in Britain, so that makes you a British citizen by birth. And since you are in Japan without a passport or visa, you are an illegal alien who needs to be deported post-haste."

And Kongou realizes the insane troll logic of her scumbag commander, who's made it his personal goal to get rid of her so that he can conquer the world with the rest of the ship-girls.

"But I returned to Japan," she argues. "I have been based in Japan during both of my lives as a steel ship and as a ship-girl! I should be naturalized by now!"

"You've only been a ship-girl for a year," Shitty Admiral replies. "And the paperwork for your Japanese citizenship was never filed."

"You were supposed to be the one who files that on our behalf, Sir!"

"The Abyssals destroyed the relevant paperwork during an attack," he lies. "It's too late to file new ones. Officers?"

Uniformed policemen enter the office. They handcuff the shocked Kongou and cover her hands with a towel to spare her dignity.

And Shitty Admiral finally breaks into a sneer as he requests the officers to "Please take her away."

The handcuffs are a joke, a formality. It is so easy to snap them. To shed the hands of the merely human police officers from her arms as if their grips are merely hundreds of pounds of gray seawater sluicing off her armored deck. And hit the abusive admiral with all of the 136,000 shaft horsepower driving her thirty-two thousand ton hull through the roughest of seas.

But Kongou is a _Kantai Musume_ , a ship-girl. She came back to protect people, not to hurt them. She is faithful.

Her will is truly indestructible.

"Waaahhh!" Kongou wails as the cops frogmarch her into the car that will take her to Yokohama Airport, and from there to Britain. "I don't want to go! Please don't send me away!"

Her stunned sisters chase after their soon-to-be-deported lead ship. "Kongou-oneesama!" cry Hiei, Haruna, and Kirishima. "Kongou-oneesama, please don't go!"

"Buh-bye, Indestructible," cackles the triumphant Shitty Admiral. Now he can do whatever he wants with his ship-girls, and no one can stop him!

(The day after, the Abyssals attacked Yokosuka N.B. Shitty Admiral is the only casualty.)

x-x-x

 **One Day Later**

 _HMNBS Devonport_

Devon, England

.

It is a depressed and disheveled Kongou who emerges from the limousine charted by the Royal Navy and escorted by military police.

She has sobbed nonstop during the day-long flight and the hour-long drive. She misses her sisters, her friends, her room, her things. She worries for them now that they are at the mercy of their awful admiral.

Kongou clambers out of the vehicle, only to stop and stare at the welcome wagon arranged in her honor.

A red carpet has been rolled out for her. British ship-girls are lined up on either side of the posh runner. Their dress uniforms are freshly pressed; their torsos glitter with decorations.

At the end of the carpet is the Mighty Hood herself, flagship of His Majesty's Ship Girls, the equal of Bismarck of the Kriegsmarine or Iowa of the United States Navy or Nagato of Kongou's own Imperial Japanese Navy, waiting upon her with pleasure and honor.

Beside the blonde battlecruiser stands a Royal Navy flag officer. Her Admiral, most probably.

A part of Kongou thinks the yellow-haired woman looks familiar. But she cannot for the life of her remember where she has seen that face before. And she cannot bring herself to care much about anything right now.

"Attention!" Hood barks out.

The order causes Kongou to stiffen in reaction as the obedience bred into her hull reacts out of reflex. But it is meant for the Royal Navy ship-girls.

"Salute!"

They salute her in the British fashion. Kongou is compelled to return the gesture. But she cannot return their smiles.

As she hesitantly alights from the stairs, a brass band begins playing Hearts of Oak, the centuries-old music of the Royal Navy.

Hood clasps Kongou's hand. "Welcome home, HMS Indestructible," greets the British battlecruiser.

Her words hit Kongou like her 15" shells.

Home? Home is where the **heart** is. And Kongou has left it in Yokosuka. With Hiei-chan and Haruna-chan and Kirishima-chan and Buki and Poi and Zekamashi and Oh-Yodo and Maya-Maya and all the others.

She is English-born, yes. But she is a **returnee** first and foremost. She returned to Japan. She answered the call of the JMSDF and the Japanese people, not the Royal Navy and the British people, however nice the latter are.

Indestructible? Yes, Indestructible is one of the English translations of her name. It means the same as Kongou. But it is **not** the same to her.

It is not her name. Indestructible is **not** her name.

Her name is 金剛. Kongō. Kongou.

'I am not HMS Indestructible. I am Kongou...'

"It's nice to meet you, Hood-san," she lies while returning the handshake rather limply.

The smile of the other ship-girl does not waver in its brightness. Hood understands that her new fleet mate needs time and space to heal the raw wounds of her deportation and exile. And she wordlessly promises to help 'Indestructible' in whatever way she can.

"Let me introduce you to our Admiral," Hood offers.

"Hello, Miss Kongou."

It is as if a dusty switch in a long-forgotten corner of Kongou's mind has been thrown to shed light upon her oldest memories.

x-x-x

 _"Ariite, Kongou," says a gruff-looking man in a strange but delightful English accent._

 _(Hello, Kongou.)_

x-x-x

"I'm Admiral Tamsyn Owens-Thurston," says the bespectacled Royal Navy officer.

She talks in a pitch perfect British accent that is as orderly as her blonde hair. It's nothing like the voice in her head, the voice in her dreams, the voice of her-

'Father.'

"I look forward to working alongside an experienced and skilled ship-girl like you," continues Owens-Thurston.

But her surname... that surname... that name...

'Owens...'

Kongou takes the hand of the prim but friendly English Admiral. The moment she does so, an electric sensation runs through her skin. Her chest starts drumming, her eleven Kampon boilers booming one after another.

She has never felt this way before in Yokosuka. Not with her shitty ex-boss. Not with her friends. Not even with her sisters.

But with this Englishwoman, with Admiral Owens-Thurston...

x-x-x

 _'Am Sir Thomas Jud Owens. Am be design'n yous fe de Imperial Japanese Navy.'_

 _(I'm Sir Thomas George Owens. I'll be designing you for the Imperial Japanese Navy.)_

x-x-x

" _Teitoku_ ," whispers Kongou.

"Pardon me, Miss Kongou?" asks Owens-Thurston.

"Admiral," she repeats, each time more and more sure of herself. "My Admiral. You're my Admiral."

With each curt repetition the Japanese ship-girl sails into Owens-Thurston's personal sea space. Her heart-shaped face is aglow with pink heat and the glimmering tears in her eyes are brought about by joy.

'You are the one I love.'

The discomfited British Admiral retreats as best as possible given Kongou has not seen fit to release her hand from a very possessive grip that, while not hurtful in the least, is all but unbreakable.

"Ah... Hood?" gulps Owens- Thurston. "A little help here?"

But the wise British battlecruiser has already moved out of the blast radius of the active volcano that is Mount Kongou. Hood has an amused twinkle in her eyes.

"You're on your own, Tammy," she tells their flustered Admiral.

"W-what? You're runn'n?" Owens-Thurston's cool-as-cucumber Received Pronunciation accent shatters like glass struck by eight fourteen-inch shells. "Youse... youse coward! Ellp me!"

Unfortunately for the Liverpool native, her singsong Scouse accent is the final trigger for the amorous Kongou.

"TEI~TO~KU~! BUUURNING LOOOVE!"

And the British-born Japanese battlecruiser-turned-fast battleship pounces on the panicking descendant of the Vickers naval architect who had designed her.

x=x=x

 **INDESTRUCTIBLE GENERATIONS**

x=x=x

 **Sheo's Notes:** Inspired by an idea where Kongou got deported due to a technicality, as well as the wonderful fan fic  Indestructible Spirit written by Skywalker_T-65, featuring a British Kongou named HMS Indestructible. Check out his story!

Scouse accented lines courtesy the Scouse Translator at woohoo.


	5. Bounce Lord of Castle Barin v KanColle

**31 October, 201X**

 _USS_ _Hornet_ _(CV-12) Museum_

Alameda, California (Strike Witches Quest X Kantai Collection)

.

 _I am the night/A tyrant of the shade/I am the spite/I am the pain repaid/I am the night/A fear that lies in shadows cannot fade/Crush the light/I am the night!_

"Where is that song coming from," Kaga all but screams as the absolutely lost and badly-panicking Kido Butai ship-girls stumble through the labyrinth that is the museum ship USS _Horne_.

"Everywhere," Hiryuu pants while Souryuu goes "Nowhere..."

"Hmmm," Akagi muses over the lighted pumpkin that she gracefully decimated even as she keeps up with her pale-faced partner. "I think it's cute..."

"That's not for eating!" gobbles Zuikaku. "Why are you eating that? How can you eat at a time like this?"

"Zuikaku! Look out!" warns Shoukaku a bit too late.

"HEEEEEEYYYYYY!" [translation: "BOOOUUUNNNCEEE!"]

Zuikaku's choked garbling could have been mistaken for the cries of a startled turkey.

x-x-x

"Ahahaha! Fly, Ghostrider! Flyyy!"

Saratoga cackles like a Power Rangers villainess as her unique P-61 Black Widow night fighter buzzes the panicking Kidou Butai like a rocket-and-fuel-equipped peregrine falcon stooping upon a rafter of poulters. A yell of "HEEEEEEYYYYYY!" somehow makes it through the throaty roar of the Double Wasps propelling the seven ton night fighter through its controlled dive.

"I thought you were bad, Hornet," winces Yorktown (CV-5) as she, her sister CV-8 and her sister's successor CV-12 watch Saratoga go absolutely spare on the Japanese ship-girls. "But Sister Sara's even worse..."

.

x=x=x

 **THE BOUNCE LORD OF USS _HORNET_ (CV-12)**

x=x=x

.

 **Later**

 _Rostock Naval Base_

Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany

.

"Night fighter warfare, you say?"

Graf Zeppelin crosses her arms in front of her significant fuel tanks.

"Challenge accepted. OBERST!"

Zepp's Stuka Ace steps out of her assembly of pilots. The fairy salutes Zepp with a raised right fist, the closest the reborn Col. Hans-Ulrich Rudel could come to a Nazi salute without getting smacked by its vehemently anti-Nazi carrier.

"ZE!" it uttered.

"Assemble _Nachtschlachtgruppen Ein_! We begin _Störkampfstaffeln_ training immediately," Zepp orders her Stuka Ace.

"ZE!"

Ark Royal cannot not help but smile at her proudly competitive friend. "I'll go prep my Stringbags," she offers.

"Thank you, Ark."

x=x=x

 **A/N:** In  Strike Witches Quest, player character Young and his crew landed their P-61 Black Widow night fighter on USS _Saratoga_.


	6. Lewd Battleships Doing Lewd Battlethings

Kongou pouts over a half-empty cup of Earl Grey that has gone tepid from waiting for the fourth member of their squadron. "Today is simply awful. Admiral Goto never joins us, Buki and Zekamashi are on expedition, and now Kirishima-chan missed our sacred tea time."

"How rude," sniffs Hiei in support of her beloved oneesama.

"I'm sure Kirishima has a good reason," Haruna says to mollify her disappointed elder sisters.

"But it's almost four bong," Kongou points out. "And yet she isn't here yet. Whatever could have delayed her?"

"Kirishima here!"

A disheveled Kirishima stumbles into view. Her shrine maiden uniform is all scorched and shredded and sopping wet. Her spectacles dangle precariously from her right ear, the other steel temple having been snapped clean off, and the lenses are so badly cracked that they have been rendered opaque and useless. Her neat bob cut is an utter mess of grey hair, her headband has gone absent without leave, and her once-sharp motions are slower, as if she is nursing hidden pain.

"Sorry for arriving late, Kongou-oneesama, Hiei-oneesama, Haruna," she pants to her shocked siblings.

Kongou goes from 'lounging upon King Edward's Chair while savoring a cuppa' to 'fussing over my injured baby sister' in the span of one second.

"Kirishima-chan," she gasps. "What happened to you?"

Much to her sisters' surprise, Kirishima blanches and attempts to evade the question. "It's nothing, really," she argues.

"But sister," Haruna worries. "You are **not** all right."

"It looks like you got into a fight," mulls Hiei.

"It wasn't a fight," Kirishima avers.

"So you did get into a fight," interprets Haruna.

"Who attacked you?" Hiei demands to know. She's lost Kirishima once before in Guadalcanal, and the Emperor's Ship will be damned if anyone got away with attacking her little sister. "I'll learn 'em!"

"No one attacked me!"

"Kirishima-chan."

Kongou assumes an uncharacteristic stern demeanor that only a very few poor brave souls have ever provoked. This is her rarely-invoked aura as a Battlecruiser of the First World War, the immense gravitas exerted by one of the most powerful capital warships afloat during those troubled times.

"What happened to you?" she imposes upon the rightly intimidated Kirishima.

"Washington-san ambushed me from behind," reluctantly confesses her youngest sister.

Her sisters transmogrify into _Kongou_ class-shaped pillars of salt. Kirishima interprets their sudden silence as a wordless invitation to explain further.

"She called upon me to meet up with her, just the two of us. I came early as was my wont, but she was already waiting there," she says.

Hiei's jaw is well and truly sunk into the ground, and her many tens of thousands of shaft horsepower cannot lift it.

"Without warning she came on me with all of her strength. She straddled me multiple times and her guns rained plunging fire all over my thinly-protected deck. Her super heavy armor piercing shells found all of my sensitive spots and punched through my armor."

Haruna is the cutest lava lamp in the world, her overheating Kampon boilers on the verge of a catastrophic steam explosion.

"I didn't have the strength to resist her. Soon I capsized and flashed my keel at her, propellers spinning uselessly. I begged her to stop, but she kept going at me until she was finally satisfied. I could barely move by the end of it, she tore me up so badly."

Kirishima lets out an exhalation that is equal parts exhaustion and... ecstasy.

"I'm so wet right now..."

The anguished sound of shattering porcelain silences everything within a kilometer of the disrupted tea party. The wildlife wisely take this as their cue to exit stage left pursued by Kuma.

"Oh. My cup broke. All this tea has gone to waste."

Kongou spoke in an emotionless tone that made her Arpeggio of Blue Steel counterpart seem like the warmest person in the world. The brunette carefully picks up every white shard of china that has littered the ground.

"I'm going to get myself a new cup, girls," she tells her sisters. "Don't let me keep you."

And the British-Japanese returnee marches off with the precision of a firing line of Redcoats advancing on a ragged bunch of colonial minutemen. Indestructible battleship Kongou is going to fetch such a smack to that tax-evading, tea-dumping, coffee-guzzling, over-sexed, over-paid, & over-here fast battleship for the unforgivable crime of lewdness to her youngest sister that Admiral Goto has never done to her.

Hiei snaps out of the daze afflicted upon her by the sight of the sexily cold Kongou.

"Wait for me, Kongou-oneesama!"

She chases after their eldest sister, leaving the twins alone.

"So, Kirishima?"

"What is it, Haruna?"

"Was Washington-san... good?"

Kirishima's eyes take on a distant look as she relives the latest friendly but intense duel between her and Washington where she had been utterly dominated once more. Her hands caress the spots on her barely-clad body where the American has 'touched' her.

x-x-x

 **Earlier**

 _Guadalcanal_

.

"Nice fight, Kirishima," laughs the blond battleship who hauls her back onto her feet after their furious spar.

"My pleasure, Washington-sama," she giggles as well.

x-x-x

"Washington-sama is the best," is Kirishima's proud and happy confirmation.

"How lewd," squeaks Haruna. "Please tell me more."

.

x=x=x

 **LEWD BATTLESHIPS DOING LEWD BATTLETHINGS**

x=x=x

 **Sheo's Notes:** Inspired by a vignette of M90A4 where USS Washington received Excalibur radar-guided artillery shells and decided to test them on her beloved rival/friend Kirishima.


	7. Enterprise of 2814

**201X**  
 _Yokosuka Naval Base_  
Yokosuka, Japan

The ship-girl USS _Enterprise_ -Big E, Lucky E, The Grey Ghost, The Galloping Ghost, and fiancee of Japanese super dreadnought Yamato- is having a good day.

She wakes up to the very appealing sight of a pajama-clad Yamato with bed hair, enjoys a lovely mug of NAVY coffee courtesy Yamato, finishes all her reports & sent them to Admiral Briggs & Admiral Goto, chuckles at the sight of DesDiv 6 swamping a flustered Tenryuu with belated Mother's Day presents, practices archery with Zuikaku & Shoukaku, and accidentally brings coffee to the Kongou sisters' tea time.

Best of all, she does not hear any voices in her head asking for her help.

x-x-x

 **Those who have read my earlier stories know that this is the calm before the storm.**

"Get on with it, Sheo," hisses DesDiv Murakumo. "You're wasting time that you could spend completing the story you promised Wolfsbane706."

 **Yes, dears.**

x-x-x

At the end of a busy day, Enterprise and Yamato find a private moment to spend with each other in a park. They are holding hands and are about to kiss. And this time there are no heavy cruisers, overprotective sister ships, lewdmarines, or Kongou nearby to interrupt them.

Of course, that is when a spaceship crashes not fifty meters from them.

"Oh, for the love of Admiral Halsey..."

Rigging summoned and equipped, Enterprise and Yamato approach the wreckage with utmost wariness, all turrets tracking, CAP overhead, & dive bombers ready for launch.

Trapped within the twisted cradle of unearthly alloy is a humanoid creature in a skintight green-and-black outfit. His skin is magenta and utterly devoid of hair. His torso has been torn open, his ruptured internal organs visible through the gaping wound.

"Hold still, sir," Enterprise instructs the injured alien. "We'll call for a medic. Yamato!"

"Hai!"

"It is too late for me," coughs the alien even as Yamato fires a 12.7 cm signal round into the air.

"Don't you say that, sailor!" The vehemence in Enterprise's voice startles Yamato. "You can't give up! You must not give up! You have to keep fighting! Come on, tell me your name," urges the carrier. "My name is USS Enterprise. Tell me about yourself."

He rewards her with a weak smile. "I... am Abin Sur... Green Lantern of Sector 2814... listen, Enterprise," he warns. "The evil Sinestro... is coming... he seeks this..."

His mangled four-digit hand holds up a band of green metal stained by the purplish blood leaking from his injuries.

"What is it?" Yamato asks.

"A power ring of the Green Lantern Corps... fueled by willpower and shaped by imagination, it can do anything... it is one of the most powerful weapons in the universe..."

Abin Sur looks into Enterprise's red-brown eyes, peers through the windows to her souls, and seems to find what he is looking for.

"USS Enterprise, please take this ring of power," he begs. "Wield it on my behalf... stop Sinestro... protect Sector 2814... for me... and for the sake of your world and all you hold dear..."

Enterprise tips her head. "I'll accept it, but only if you promise to keep fighting," she counters. "Do we have a deal?"

"How stubborn," chuckles Abin Sur. "So like myself... full of fear... yet never taking the false counsel of your fears... you are truly worthy..."

He closes his eyes, which gets Enterprise to blurt out, "Stay with me, sailor!"

"I am... content... you will make a fine Green Lantern... no," Abin Sur corrects himself as he forces his eyes open once more to look upon Enterprise one last time. "You will be the **best** of us, Enterprise... the **greatest** of this generation..."

His gaze wavers. The otherworldly light in his eyes fades. His hand drops into Enterprise's palm, the last act of his lifeless body being to deposit the ring in her hand.

"No..." Enterprise clutches Abin Sur's clammy hand. Her eyes water. "Not again..."

Yamato places her hands upon those of her love. "Enterprise?"

"It's just like before," whispers Enterprise. "In Pearl Harbor... and the War..."

She no longer has to hide her feelings of inadequacies regarding her perceived failures during the Second World War. Now she has someone who will gladly help to bear her burdens, someone who will lend her a shoulder to cry on, someone whose arms will hold her tight.

"You are not alone," Yamato gently reminds her beloved.

"Yamato... thank you," sniffles Enterprise.

The solemn moment does not last. A harsh grating voice intrudes upon the silently grieving ship-girls.

"Humans! Surrender Abin Sur's ring!"

Hovering above them is another humanoid alien. This one has slick raven hair, reddish skin, tapering ears, and a cruel mug. His outfit is similar to that of the late Abin Sur, but the green swathes are instead a sickly yellow. Swirling around him is a glowing amber aura not unlike those of the miasma that cloaked the Abyssals.

On his finger is a yellow power ring like that of Abin Sur's.

 _Devils don't come from hell beneath us. They come from the sky._

"Or suffer the consequences," casually threatens Sinestro.

Yamato's response is 27,000 pounds of rubber thermite and steel fired at 780 meters per second. The only reason Sinestro survives nine Sanshiki rounds at point blank range is because he already has a force field up.

"Mongrel! You will pay for that!"

As the furious Sinestro is engaged by Yamato's massive batteries of American-made-&-installed anti-aircraft Bofors & Oerlikons while the Combat Air Patrol of Vought F4U Corsairs of VF-10 Grim Reapers bounces the alien, Enterprise ponders the ring that Abin Sur bequeathed to her with his last breath.

She knows not the duties and responsibilities that come with the ring. For all she knows, it could be the one ring for a dark lord upon his iron throne in the black land where the shadows dwell, one ring to rule them all and find them and bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Enterprise was sure Abin Sur was a good man. But sometimes even good men acted cruel. For had she not done similar cruel things to everyone, even Yamato whom she loved more than both her Admirals, Admiral Briggs and Admiral Halsey?

What she does understand is the level of devotion that will be required by her acceptance of this new mantle. For her hands already bear two rings.

The diamond-studded golden ring is from Admiral Briggs. It is Enterprise's provisional partner ring, an artifact that strengthens her invincible power... and a source of nonstop teasing from Dakota & Chair Farce General O'Neill (double 'l', has a sense of humor) about the respected admiral & the most decorated carrier of the US Navy netorare-ing Yamato & Mrs. Briggs.

(Mrs. Briggs' cheeky reply was to legally adopt Enterprise as her daughter. But Dakota merely changed her tack from 'NTR-prise' to 'Big E-lectra Complex'.)

The other is Enterprise's silver engagement ring, the partner of which adorns Yamato's hand, the physical proof of their promise as lovers and friends.

x-x-x

 _"I, Enterprise, will take you, Yamato-"_

 _"I, Yamato, will take you, Enterprise-"_

 _"-to be my lawfully engaged fiancee, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."_

 _"Now you may snog your fiancee."_

 _"With tongue desu!"_

 _"Ehehe..."_

 _"Damn it, Dakota, Kongou..."_

x-x-x

And Enterprise so happens to excel at defying death.

The latest explosion is particularly savage and entwined with a cry of pain. A familiar parasol rolls past her, burnt and tattered.

Enterprise beholds a terrible sight that stopped her heart and smothered her boilers.

Yamato is sprawled upon her right flank. Blood and oil stream down her pretty face and bare limbs. She strains to push herself up from the ground.

Her mighty Rigging has been reduced to shambles. Fires rage unchecked across the length, breadth, and depth of her Outfit. The starboard side is gone. Thick smoke issues from the empty barbette on the port side that is missing the triple 18.1" gun turret.

Enterprise's CAP is down to just Grim Reaper Leader. The fairy pilot has just crashed his burning Corsair onto Sinestro and parachuted onto the alien's head. He is now hanging for dear life upon a pointed ear, stabbing the flailing villain in his ugly face with a tiny Bowie knife while yelling "HEEEYYY!" at the top of his tiny lungs.

"Yamato!"

The love of her life manages to look up from where she lay. "Enterprise," the badly-wounded Yamato gasps. "Run..."

"No..."

Enterprise has fled from fights before. Discretion is the better part of valor. And she always came back for more and won the decisive rematches.

"No."

But she will not abandon Yamato. Enterprise had been forced to leave others before. She even left her own sisters -Yorktown, Hornet, & Wasp, and anyone who thought Wasp was not a Yorktown class could go to Hell- to die.

Never again. Not while she lived. Not while USS _Enterprise_ has a plane to launch. Not while she has a gun, any gun, to fire at her foes, however small the caliber. Not while her engines could give her a knot of speed with which to ram the enemy.

 **"No!"**

There is no time left to waste. Ship-girl weaponry will not suffice against this overwhelming enemy. Yamato is injured and helpless. No one hurts **her** Yamato and gets away with the unforgivable crime. No one.

Like many of her decisions, Enterprise makes this one on the fly. And like all of her choices, she will see this one true to the bitter end.

"Abin Sur... Admiral Briggs... Admiral Halsey... Yamato. USS _Enterprise_ will engage the enemy!"

And so Enterprise slips the ring upon her index finger... and as it glows with a green light, she begins screaming.

"Enterprise!"

.

x=x=x

 **ENTERPRISE OF SECTOR 2814**

x=x=x

.

 **Sheo's Notes:** A cross-over between  Kantai Collection and the DC Animated Universe, where Enterprise takes up the Green Lantern Ring of Abin Sur.

I also drew upon Takamachi Nanoha of 2814 by Shadow Crystal Mage.

The relationship between Enterprise and Yamato is inspired by The Greatest Generation. YamaPrise~


	8. MOAR Lewd Battleships

**IT'S TIME TO DUEL**  
 _Tokyo Bay_  
Tokyo, Japan

"So," Washington asked the glorified battlecruiser dressed in the ridiculously brief _miko_ outfit. "What do you want?"

Kongou tugged at the white satin opera glove covering her right hand that halted just short of her elbow. She flung the flimsy garment towards Washington, who snagged it out of curiosity.

"It's time to **duel** , Washington-chan desu~" challenged the British-Japanese returnee, who pronounced the Japanese _copula_ as 'dess', which kind of sounded like 'death'. "For the honor of my _kawaii kawaii imouto_ Kirishima-chan desu~"

"While your offer is most tempting, Miss Kongou, I will have to refuse. I have far better things to do," Washington replied.

What she left unsaid was that Admiral Williams had sternly lectured her for recklessly using expensive experimental Excalibur 16" ammunition on Kirishima during what was supposed to be a practice spar. The Japanese fast battleship ended up spending a long time in the repair docks. The US Navy had paid the cost of her repairs and Washington was forced to apologize to Kirishima (who didn't mind it) and Admiral Goto (who did mind).

Now, there were many ways to respond to Wash' polite and reasonable dismissal, achieving varying possible results.

Kongou brought her right hand up to cover her smirking lips in an _ojousama_ gesture that she copied from Kumano.

"Ufufufu," she quoted Tenryuu while speaking in a perfect Received Pronunciation English accent, the kind used by many a Bond villain. "Are you scared?"

Then she twisted the dagger by adding, "So the W in 'Mighty W' stands for wussy?"

Washington twitched at the deliberate butchery of her nickname, a delivery that was further aggravated by an accent that any American was inclined to punch in the mouth.

"Now, see here, Miss Kongou," she warned. "I deeply respect you on account of your extensive battle record and you being the eldest sister of my dear friend Kirishima, but if you're going to be **childish** about this-"

"Oi m8, Mighty Wussy is a lily-liver yellow Yankee chicken 'bout gettin' rekted desu~" sang Kongou while posing her arms to resemble the wings of a fowl.

Washington's vision went red, white, and blue. Admiral William's MAD (Massively Angry Diatribe) was suddenly a very distant secondary concern. No hot-blooded American warship flying the Stars & Stripes could resist that deliberate dig at their patriotism.

"Oh, it's **so** on, you Limey bitch," she snarled as the loading mechanisms of her three turrets rammed live Excalibur rounds into the chambers of her Mark Six 16"/45 cal naval rifles. "Time to reenact the Boston tea party!"

x=x=x

 **MOAR Lewd Battleships Doing Lewd Battlethings**

x=x=x

A while later, Kongou had pulled off something Kirishima had never accomplished: She had made Washington break into a sweat.

The lead ship of the _Kongou_ class dearly paid for this historical achievement, having taken Tai Ha levels of damage due to the augmented firepower of her American opponent.

"Shit," she groaned as her Rigging threatened to fall apart. "The precious gifts that Admiral Goto gave me..."

"You're no match for me, Kongou," harrumphed Washington. "I was designed to defeat you and your sisters in a far fight. I beat Kirishima-chan every single time we sparred. And she was twice the battleship that you are!"

"You are correct, Washington-chan," Kongou agreed in a way too calm tone that set her wary opponent on edge. "On paper and in practice, you are stronger than me or any of my sisters."

Despite her embattled state of undress and wrecked Outfit, she broke into a wide smile that bespoke of everything going according to plan.

"But," she slyly brought up. "You've made two mistakes!

"First! I'm **not** Kirishima-chan desu~!" Her smile broadened. "And second! I'm the **distraction** desu~!"

"What? Distraction?"

It was then that the perplexed Washington realized the alarms sounded by the fairies manning her search radar about a new threat right behind her, a warning she had failed to heed because she was fully focusing on the admittedly maneuverable (to the point of flighty) Kongou.

At the same moment she felt strong arms encircle her midsection and two soft, round shapes pressed into her back. Alarmed and trapped in a bear hug, Washington looked over her shoulder to find Kongou's brunette younger sister Hiei flashing her a tomboyish grin.

Only then did Washington realize the page Kongou had torn out of the American fast battleship's own playbook: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, where the historical USS _South Dakota_ unwittingly held _Kirishima_ 's full attention while USS _Washington_ circled around and jumped the unsuspecting enemy battleship from behind.

"Next you're going to say 'Sneaky Japs!' desu!" Kongou predicted while gesturing expansively with her hands.

"Sneaky Japs! Ah!" Washington gasped upon realizing she'd been so easy to read.

"Nay." Kongou resumed affectation of that damned upper class Received Pronunciation accent. "Say rather: Perfidious Albion."

"SOLOMON MERRY-GO-ROUND!" And the laughing Hiei arched backwards with all 136,000 shaft horsepower of her eleven Kampon boilers.

"Blargh!" Washington gurgled as she was dunked into the sea head first, her ankle-length skirt falling down to reveal ultra-modest petticoats of white cotton.

Hiei adroitly rolled over the upside-down American. "And again!" yelled the Japanese fast battleship before hauling her dripping wet prisoner up for a repeat of the wrestling move.

"Wharblegarble!"

"Third time's for the charm!"

By this time the soggy Washington was braced for impact and ready to resist Hiei's third successive suplex. What she hadn't prepared for was Kongou taking the opportunity to close in with right arm extended and aimed at her throat.

"LEYTE LARIAT!"

"Urk!"

So ensued a chain of professional wrestling moves named after key battles of the Pacific War with Washington tossed around like a rag doll by Kongou and Hiei.

"GUADALCANAL PRESS!"

"Geh!"

"SAMAR THUNDERSTORM!"

"Argh!"

"IRONBOTTOM SOUND DROP!"

"Uwah!"

"HENDERSON BOMBAH!"

"Kuh!"

Washington barely managed to haul herself back onto her boneless legs after taking that last tag-team attack. "Damn it," she gasped. "Is this..."

The helpless American fast battleship could only watch as the ebullient Japanese battlecruisers posed yet again.

"These hands of ours are burning red!" the Kongou sisters called out as they began spinning around for no logical reason that could be discerned by Washington's radar and optical range finders.

"Their loud cry tells us!" uttered Kongou.

"To seize happiness!" declared Hiei.

 _Why are they waltzing,_ thought the bewildered Washington as she could only wait for the final blow to fall upon her battered form. _Also, while I expected Kongou to be a good dancer, I didn't think Hiei was pretty good, too..._

"SEKI-"

"HA!"

 **"LOVE-LOVE KONGOU-KEN!"**

Washington gaped at the impossibly idealized image of JMSDF Admiral Goto that inexplicably materialized in front of the posing Kongou sisters. She blinked to clear her obviously concussed head of the hilariously handsome hallucination.

Nope. The sparkling recreation of the Japanese Admiral not only remained, he now filled her hazy vision. As Wash stared, Imaginary Goto took hold of his tunic front and ripped it open to show off broad pectorals and a ridiculously chiseled six-pack.

"Oh, great," Washington sighed. "I've been infected by the crazy..."

And she closed her eyes and let herself fall into the blessed blackness of unconsciousness...

x-x-x

 **Afternoon Tea-Time**  
 _Yokosuka Naval Base_  
Yokosuka, Japan

"They're late," Kirishima worried over a cup of her favorite tea which so happened to share her name. "Kongou-oneesama is never late to her favorite tea time with us."

"Haruna is sure they are all right," reassured her twin sister.

"Is she angry with me for being late the last time because Washington-sama..."

Kirishima trailed off as her sisterly affection for Kongou clashed with her attraction to Washington. Family or friend? Sister or partner? Could she truly choose between them?

Spoiler: The Twins

"Of course not, Kirishima," Haruna told her. "Kongou-oneesama was really worried for you."

"I call myself the brains of the Kongou sisters, but I never think about the grief I cause for Kongo-oneesama," she sighed.

"Haruna is sure that Kongou-oneesama would be happy if Kirishima is happy with Washington-san."

Then came the call they were waiting for. "Haruna-chan! Kirishima-chan! We're home!" whooped Kongou.

"Home at last!" Hiei called as well.

Kirishima and Haruna immediately stood up. "Welcome home, Kongou-oneesama, Hiei-oneesama!" they greeted.

The twins stopped to take second glances at the unexpected guest between their sisters.

"Oh, my," gulped the instantly red Haruna.

"W-W-Washington-sama?!" gasped Kirishima.

Indeed it was the younger _North Carolina_ class fast battleship who hung from the shoulders of the two Kongou sisters flanking her. The bedraggled American's dress was sopping wet and torn up, a state that Kirishima could relate to and secretly found desirable, especially since she has never come close to breaking Washington's armor.

"Uh... hi, Kirishima-chan," greeted the sheepish Washington. "Sorry to drop on you like this without warning..."

"What happened to you?" Kirishima fussed.

"Hiei-chan and I ganged up on her!"

Haruna and Kirishima stared at their indefatigable eldest sister.

"First I let Washington-chan have her way with my body," Kongou proclaimed without stopping to think about the import of her choice of words. She even gestured to the tattered clothes that left tantalizing glimpses of her figure. "So that Hiei-chan could take her from behind!"

"Washington-chan wears really old-fashioned underclothes!" snickered Hiei.

Washington's cheeks caught fire at the mention of her petticoats. So what if she prefers modest underwear? A proper American girl has got to protect her modesty. Not like these Japanese battlecruisers who didn't wear brassieres!

"At first we took turns pounding her into submission," Kongou continued to confide in her younger sisters.

"Kongou-oneesama has this amazing trick when she wrapped her legs around Washington's head," gushed Hiei.

"Why, thank you, Hiei-chan. After that we decided to attack her together!"

"I got to cross her T and give her a full broadside of my main battery," boasted Hiei.

"Youth and vigor are no match for age and experience," judged Kongou.

By this point Mount Haruna had gone active, flanks awash and aglow with molten lava.

"We avenged your loss, Kirishima-chan," Kongou cheered her youngest sister.

"Now you can do whatever you like to Washington-chan," Hiei urged the shocked Kirishima.

"Straddle her with a salvo of your BURNING LOVE!"

"Peel open her decking!"

"Penetrate her armor belt!"

"Knock her turrets off her barbettes!"

"Rake her citadel!"

"Beach her hull to expose her keel and stern!"

"Board her!"

"Raise your naval ensign over her immobilized form!"

"Take her as your war prize!"

"Night battle! All night long!"

Every new suggestion added another interesting dab of crimson to Washington's face. She earnestly prayed to God Almighty (also known as Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest J. King) for a merciful sinking by catastrophic ammunition explosion rather than this protracted scrapping of her already tattered dignity.

As for Kirishima... The youngest Kongou sister reached up to her own face and slowly took off her glasses. The short-haired ship-girl was trembling in a manner that got the flustered Washington to recall the acute longitudinal vibrations that plagued her original body's propeller shafts during the USS _Washington_ 's entire wartime service. Wash found the shaky sight strangely mesmeric.

"Kongou-oneesama... Hiei-oneesama... you... with all due respect..."

Kirishima's sea-green eyes watered.

"How could you!" she snapped at her startled elder sisters.

Kongou and Hiei recoiled as if they had been deliberately shelled by Kirishima. "Kirishima-chan? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? You ask me what's **wrong**?" Washington-sama is **my** rival! Our relationship is **special**! **We** are the only battleships of the Pacific Theater who fought each other in honorable single combat!"

"Um," the embarrassed Washington commented. "You know, Kirishima-chan, South Dakota was there, too... sure, she sandbagged for that fight, but she was still present..."

"For you to force yourselves upon Washington-sama like this without her permission or my knowledge!" Kirishima continued to rail at Kongou and Hiei while politely ignoring her rival's correction. "It's like if Nagato-san suddenly cornered Admiral Goto in a closet and made herself a NagaMom against his will!"

Kongou turned pale at the mention of her fierce competitor in the Goto Bowl outmaneuvering her by way of motherhood. "T-t-that is," she gulped. "That cannot be desu..."

"Or if Admiral Goto bent Kongou-oneesama over his office dess and torpedoed her stern in front of you, Hiei-oneesama!" Kirishima yelled.

Hiei went white. "N-n-no," she denied, not wishing to consider her beloved Kongou-oneesama being seized by their Admiral (because despite what one might think, the second Kongou sister also likes Admiral Goto that way.)

Kongou, however, blushed. "I wouldn't mind desu," she admitted, much to Hiei's horror.

Kirishima strode forward and firmly but gently took hold of Washington. Before any of the other fast battleships could react, the bespectacled ship-girl drew her rival off her sisters' shoulders and swept the surprised Wash off her feet for a bridal carry.

"K-K-Kirishima-chan?" stuttered the blazing-quad-Bofors-barrels-red Washington.

"Don't worry, Washington-sama." And Kirishima smiled at her. "I'll escort you to the repair docks."

"Uh... thanks, Kirishima-chan... I owe you..."

As Kirishima bore Washington away for some personal nursing time, Haruna saw a pleased smile form upon Kongou's lips.

"Kongou-oneesama? Did you plan this?"

"Most of it, desu," confirmed her giggling eldest sister. "Washington-chan was stronger than I expected. But Hie-chan and I managed to show her what Kirishima-chan feels every time Washington-chan beats her, so she should remember to hold back her full strength next time. And Kirishima-chan got her chance to show her good side to Washington-chan, so all's well that ends well."

"As expected of Kongou-oneesama," Hiei approved, only to be startled when Kongou sagged against her.

"Ah, it seems my exertions have caught up with me... Hiei-chan," Kongou weakly requested. "Can you help me to the repair docks? I don't think I can make it on my own..."

"H-h-hai, Kongou-oneesama!"

Haruna watched as the nose-bleeding Hiei happily give Kongou a piggy-back ride to the docks. Wondered if this, too, was part of her eldest sister's plans. Wondered if it was all right.

"Kongou-oneesama... you really work hard to make everyone happy..."

Now alone in the abandoned tea garden, Haruna placed her hands upon her thumping heart.

"Haruna... is jealous..."

She looked to the direction where Kirishima and Washington had disappeared to. Imagined what her twin and her rival were doing in the baths. Blushed. And began thinking of things unlike her, of things no one would have expected from a nice girl like her.

"Then," she whispered. "Just this once... maybe Haruna can be a bad girl..."

 **DUN DUN DUN!**

x=x=x

 **Sheo's Notes:** Bwahaha! I have turned Haruna lewd! What are you going to do about it, Teitoku?

LBDLBT (dang, that's cumbersome; I'll just call it LewdBatt) Washington is physically based on the Belated Battleships Washington, but her personality and relationship with Kirishima is more in line with another take on Wash as written by M90A4. I just used Warship Girls Washington for the damage CG.

This is the second rewrite. It makes Kongou's orchestration of the entire event more spontaneous and somewhat less ambiguous.


	9. Eyes On Me

I should have been the last person to draw your attention. I'm kind of ordinary. People say I'm cute, but then they also say my sisters are beautiful.

My sisters... I love them a lot. They mean the world to me. And I used to think that they were all better than me.

You showed me that isn't true. I know my sisters are great people. But thanks to your faith in me, I know that I'm also great. I'm just as great as them.

Still, my sisters do stand out far more than me. Myoko-oneechan is elegant and wise, the perfect big sister. Nachi-oneechan is all manly and strong; she's the big brother that I never had. And Ashigara-chan is... Um... Really forward.

They outshone me. They were like the sun. Beside them, I was the twinkling little star that no one wondered about.

And that was all right. I was happy for my sisters. They deserved to be the stars.

So when you sought me out during one of the rare moments when I wasn't with any of my sisters... I was beside myself with confusion and nervousness.

I had always avoided you. I did not think you were a bad person. Oh, no. I knew you were a very good man.

But I also thought that you were too good for the likes of me. I thought you would be good for Myoko-oneechan or Nachi-oneechan or Ashigara-chan. But I didn't believe that I myself deserved you.

You thought otherwise.

"Haguro," you told me. "I like you. Will you go out with me?"

I think the entire base heard my squeak. I felt like I had caught on fire. I could already imagine everyone cheering "KONGOU-RATULATIONS!" and "PAN-PAKA-PAN!" and "WOO-HOO! A TOAST TO THE NEWLY-WEDS!" over the loud pounding of my heart.

I was so happy.

"Um... Ah... My sisters... Why not them?"

Yes, I was happy. But I did not understand why you picked me. I did not see what you saw in me.

And you told me:

"I do look up to Myoko because she's amazing. She has a wise word and is happy to help me out whenever I'm stumped.

"And I have loads of fun hanging out with Nachi, drinking beer and shooting the breeze and pretending to wrestle without a care for who sees us.

"And Ashigara is sizzling hot, and I honestly think it's criminal that she has to be the one who seeks out men instead of the other way around.

"But you're the one who's caught my eye, Haguro. You are the one I like the most."

Back then, I did not like having anyone's eyes on me. They made me feel so small, so insignificant. The more people looked at me, the more diminished I feel, until I was all but invisible.

That's why I always made sure to stay behind my sisters. I could not stand their judging eyes.

But your eyes burned bright and saw clear through me. Your eyes stayed on me.

"You are always there for your sisters. When Myoko needed assistance, you would always volunteer yourself without thinking to ask for any reward. Whenever Nachi engaged the enemy, you always guarded her back and kept her safe from harm. And when Ashigara came home crying at how unloved she was, you always proved her wrong by lending her your shoulder and your arms and your soothing heartbeat and your warm words."

You knew. You recalled all of those. You made me remember.

'I'll help you, Myoko-oneechan. I'll protect you, Nachi-oneechan. I love you, Ashigara-chan.'

That was how I felt for them. That was what I wanted to say to them. And even though I did not have the courage to voice them out, I still acted them out. And I know my devoted feelings reached them.

Yes. I was always there for my sisters. But now... There is someone else.

There is you.

I want to be with you. I want to always be there for you. I want to be your bride, your wife. I want to have your children, who will have our grandchildren.

I want to grow old with you. I want to spend my life with you. I want to be part of your life.

For you, I will be the pillar that supports the roof of our humble home. I will be the corner stone of our family, of our children. I will be your rock, upon which we will build our future together. And the Plains of the Abyss will never prevail against our love.

For you, I will be everything.

Because... Because I love you.

That's why I always want to have your eyes on me.

.

x=x=x

EYES ON ME

x=x=x

.

 **Sheo's Notes:** Written for my friend MissingJimbo to cheer him up.

I've gone for the interpretation that Haguro is the older sister since her steel ship self was laid down, launched, and completed before Ashigara. Hence her referring to Ash as "Ashigara-chan".


	10. a mother's love is unconditional

_A mother's love is unconditional, Fubuki…_

There was a young destroyer _kanmusu_ named Hibiki. She was lovely like the echo that was her namesake. She possessed everything a ship-girl could ever want: A doting destroyer flotilla leader in Tenryuu, a cool big sister figure in Tatsuta, and her loving sister ships Akatsuki, Ikazuchi, and Inazuma. She was always happy.

But one day, her mood changed for the worse. Hibiki turned dour. She refused to be cheered up by her sisters.

Tenryuu grew concerned about her ward. "Kiddo," she asked the little white-haired destroyer one day. "Why are you sad?"

Hibiki explained what bothered her. She had read the latest issue of The Daily Aoba-

"That paparazzi..." Tenryuu gnashed her teeth. "Hibiki! Did that snoop blackmail you to participate in an erotic photo shoot for the centerfold spread?"

Because Aoba had done that exact thing to her before. The resulting Heavenly Dragon Unveiled special issue turned out to be a best seller.

"I'm going to cut her," Tenryuu declared as she brandished her sword.

"No," Hibiki corrected her.

-and heard the wonderful news.

 _Admiral Putin of Vladivostok Naval Base has declared himself ready for a provisional wedding! But he will only marry a ship-girl who brings him the heart of either a human or a ship-girl as a show of devotion! This heart has got to be fresh and warm and the real thing! Anyone who brings a fake heart will be thrown into the Gulag!_

Cold tears overflowed from Hibiki's sky blue eyes. "Tenryuu, I have seen this Admiral," she confessed to her destroyer flotilla leader. "He is a true Communist. I do not want to live if anyone else marries him. I will scuttle myself if I am not the one who weds him..."

Tenryuu's motherly heart plummeted down her ribcage. She couldn't have Hibiki suffer like this!  
She knew what needed to be done.

"Stay here," she told Hibiki before heading off with her sword resting upon her shoulder.

Her ward did as ordered. Hibiki waited patiently. She knew Tenryuu would find a way to make her wish come true.

The purple-haired light cruiser came back a while later. Tenryuu's tough clothes were soaked in blood and she dragged her ichor-covered sword behind her as if she was too tired to heft her favored weapon off the ground.

"Tenryuu! Are you all right?" Hibiki fussed over her bedraggled flotilla leader.

"I'm fine, kiddo. Here."

Her left hand bore a blood-soaked bundle of thick cloth. She opened the bundle to show Hibiki a heart so fresh and warm that the ripe red organ still throbbed with tell-tale thumps.

"Hurry up, kiddo," Tenryuu urged the astonished destroyer. "Take this to the Admiral you love and present it to him."

"Where did you get this, Tenryuu?" Hibiki turned pale. "Did you kill a human or a ship-girl for this?"

"What? No! It's the heart of an Abyssal. They count as ship-girls, too, in a roundabout sort of way. Anyway, I looked for a Re Class and killed it. And I did it solo, too," Tenryuu bragged before she turned pale and hastily covered her mouth right before she began coughing.

"You're hurt!"

"The Re Class got some good hits in before I killed it. But it'll take more than this to kill me, kiddo. I'll be right as rain after I soak in the repair docks."

"We need to get you to Akashi-san."

And Hibiki took hold of Tenryuu and began steering the admittedly shaky cruiser towards the repair facilities.

"I can make it to the repair docks on my own, kiddo," Tenryuu assured the worried little escort. "Now take this to that Russian Admiral you like before it gets cold."

"But Tenryuu-"

"Do you want some other ship-girl to beat you to Admiral Putin? I hear Fubuki-chan likes him too," Tenryuu warned.

A chill shot through Hibiki's stiff spine. Her eldest sister Fubuki was indeed her rival for Admiral Putin. The Blizzard could speak fluent Russian and recently expressed her wish to become Putin's Winter Destroyer.

"What if Fubuki-chan has already found a heart of her own to give to him?" Tenryuu warned. "She'll be the one who gets Admiral Putin's provisional wedding ring."

Hibiki could not have that. Admiral Putin was hers!

"I'm sorry for being so selfish, Tenryuu," she sniffled. "I'm sorry for being a bad destroyer."

"You don't have to apologize for anything, kiddo. I did this because I love you."

Persuaded at last, Hibiki accepted the cloth-wrapped heart. Upon laying hands on the precious package, her reluctance melted and courage filled her chest.

"Thank you, Tenryuu."

"No sweat, kiddo." She ruffled her hair. "Now go get him."

Straightaway the young destroyer steamed towards Vladivostok at flank speed, the Phoenix sailing as fast as her red-lined boilers and turbines could sustain.

Soon she was just a few miles away from Vladivostok. There Hibiki would present the heart to Admiral Putin, whom she adored with all of her mind and body of soul. And he would fit that desired diamond ring upon her finger, making her his Verniy, his faithful Ekho.

She was almost there. She would reach Admiral Putin's HQ within an hour. And it appeared that Hibiki had indeed beaten Fubuki in the race for Putin's ring and heart.

'Thank you, Tenryuu...'

Just then her keel stuck a hitherto-hidden sandbar, causing the distracted destroyer to stumble and fall on her knees. The cloth-covered heart leaped out of her hands and sprawled onto the disturbed sand.

"Ugh," whimpered Hibiki as she struggled to find purchase in the soft sand. "I won't sink… as expected, this is embarrassing…"

"Kiddo! Are you all right?"

Hibiki went rigid. It sounded like Tenryuu. Had her guardian followed her instead of going to the repair docks? But what about her injuries?

"Tenryuu? What are you doing here..."

Her light blue eyes stared the source of the loud outcry... which lay before her.

There, resting upon a nest of red cloth and wet sand, still pulsing with life, was the heart that Tenryuu had given her.

x-x-x

Just short of the entrance to the repair docks, tracking blood across the floor and wall, the fallen Tenryuu slumped against the wall.

"Sorry, Hibiki," she murmured. "I'm not strong enough to defeat a Re Class or brave enough to murder any of our friends for their hearts..."

Her weary eyelid finally lost the battle to stay open. But she knew it was worth it. She knew she had won.

Hibiki would have reached Vladivostok by now. She would have given her gift to Admiral Putin, whom Tenryu hoped was a fine man who would make her little Echo resound with happiness.

"But... I want you to be happy... Always…"

The last thing Tenryuu saw before the darkness claimed her was the smiling Hibiki showing her the diamond ring adorning her finger.

x-x-x

Tears poured down Hibiki's ruddy cheeks. She bawled her little lungs out as she gathered up the heart and hugged it to her bosom.

"Tenryuu! Tenryuu! TENRYUU!"

For Tenryuu did not give just any heart to Hibiki. She gave her own heart. Because her child deserved the best.

And even at that moment, that mother's heart still felt love for her daughter.

x=x=x

.

 **a mother's love is unconditional**

.

x=x=x

.

 **Sheo's Notes:** I wrote this during the lead-up to Valentine's Day and based this off an old folk tale. I've rewritten it for SV.


End file.
